[mythtv] Quiet/Silent PC for Myth

[Brian Foddy]

One thing you didn't mention in your writeup tho, and VERY
important for me.  How about RF interference?  As I
use good old-fashion rabbit ears, not having a good shielded
metal case I think would be a disaster.
In my prototype machine, its bad enough.


On Thursday 30 January 2003 01:30 pm, Drew Bernat wrote:
> On Thu, 30 Jan 2003, Larry Matter wrote:
> > And lastly, vanity weighs in.  I cannot find a small (and cheap) case
> > that I like for micro ATX platforms.  Add to that the task of finding low
> > profile cards, and it gets even harder.  And then there is noise.  Trying
> > to make an AMD based system "silent" will be quite a chore I think.
>
> I just wanted to chip in a few comments.
>
> I recently put together a MythBox, and with a quick resoldering of my IR
> circuit it's actually working quiet well (i.e. wife can use it ;). It's
> also fitting in perfectly with our living room, and is almost silent. If
> there's conversation in the room, or even a car driving by outside, it's
> inaudible.
>
> First, specs:
> KT333 motherboard (fullsize, meant to be microATX but I screwed up)
> Athlon 1700
> Seagate Barracuda IV (80GB)
> Geforce2 MX (noname)
> SB Live (onboard sound was desynching)
> Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP CanWeAddSomeMoreLabelsOnPlease
> Old 300 watt power supply from another machine
>
> And it runs almost silently. And here's what I did:
>
> First: ugliness. I didn't want another PC case in the living room, and
> the really slick microATX cases were just too pricey. So I built one, out
> of oak and oak plywood. I now have an endtable with a DVD-ROM faceplate in
> the front :) Another alternative is to get a cabinet or somesuch and stick
> a case inside.
>
> More importantly, heat and noise. Last I checked, my processor was holding
> steady at 105F, and there are no components that I'm particularly worried
> about. I'll break down the parts and say what I did.
>
> Processor:
>   Check out www.silentpcreview.com and take a look at the heat sink
> section. I bought the big hunk-o-copper HS (umm... err... Thermalright
> SLK800). It's huge all right. I topped it with a low-flow, low-noise
> Panaflo 80mm fan. Almost no noise from the fan, and massively less than
> any machine I run.
>
> Hard drive:
>   The barracuda IV's are almost silent to begin with, and I suspended mine
> from a web of elastic. This decouples vibration noise from the case. Data
> point: I forgot to demount the HDD when I was sanding the case (oops!) but
> when I put my hand on the drive I couldn't feel any vibration, though the
> case was buzzing a fair amount from the power sander.
>
> Power supply:
>   Power supply fans can make a fair amount of noise. I pulled the cover on
> the PS (BE CAREFUL DOING THIS since you can electrocute yourself but good)
> and blew the dust out. That helps. I also replaced the noisy 80MM fan with
> a quieter one, hacked to run at 7 volts. Basically, I snipped the +12 and
> ground leads to the fan, ran the wires outside of the PS, and plugged them
> into the +12 and +5 lines of a disk drive power connector. Much less
> noise, but if you do this make sure there is enough airflow. In my case,
> since the PS doesn't suck hot air from the CPU, it's good enough.
>
> Case venting:
>   I bought a 120MM Panaflo low-flow fan. Man, that sucker is _HUGE_. It's
> running at 7 volts (as above, +12/+5) and exhausts for the case. The air
> that comes out is barely warm.
>
> So it is possible to silence an AMD system. I spent about $70 in bits and
> pieces to do it (HS at 50, two fans at 10 each), but I think it's worth
> it.
>
> Drew